By now we all know that Floyd Mayweather Jr will be fighting May 5th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Against whom you may ask? That remains unknown for the time being. So far, there is no indication that the opponent will be the one just about everyone wants to see, Manny Pacquiao. Ever since Pacquiao won a majority decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November, his promoter Bob Arum, has been reluctant to start negotiations for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. He has come up with a number of reasons as to why the fight can’t happen on May 5th. At first, Arum stated “the little fella” that Mayweather wanted to fight was in fact Erik Morales, not Manny Pacquiao. After those rumors spread like wildfire, and were finally extinguished, Arum then claimed that the mega fight couldn?t happen in May due to Mayweather’s December court date which could send him to jail. That turned out to be the truth.
On December 21st, Mayweather was in fact sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge. He was scheduled to start that jail stint on January 6th. When the news of Mayweather not being able to fight on May 5th came to light, Arum stated that Manny Pacquiao would fight in either May or June. Manny’s potential opponents would be Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley, Miguel Cotto, or Juan Manuel Marquez.
On January 6th, Mayweather’s legal team was able to convince the same Las Vegas judge that had sentenced him to postpone his jail sentence until June, in order to allow Floyd to fulfill his “mega fight’ commitment to the city of Las Vegas on May 5th. It appeared as if Mayweather-Pacquiao may finally happen on May 5th 2012. Not so fast, Arum has come up with yet another diversion to stop the mega fight from happening once again.
Pacquiao had sustained a cut during his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in November. Jeffrey Roth, a Las Vegas plastic surgeon, who stitched up Manny’s cut right after the Marquez fight, has openly stated that Manny will be unable to spar until April, which subsequently wouldn?t allow Manny enough time to prepare for a May 5th bout with Floyd. Ironically, Pacquiao will be able to fight in June, which is when Mayweather will start his 90 day jail sentence.
